One of us is not human.

THE THING 1982 trailer

THE THING 2011 trailer

THE THING 2011

The 1982 john Carpenter’s “The thing’s” prequel pretty much explains to us the origin of the “Assimilator alien”. For those who a stranger to the 1982’s version, the storyline is basically about stranded scientists battling for their lives against an unknown life form which “absorbs” their prey and later imitates them. The “assimilated” prey later infiltrates the camp causing a terrible case of paranoia within the group. Even thought John Carpenter’s version was a remake from the 1951’s “The Thing from another world”, but his version was more accurately adapted from the book “Who goes there?” by John W. Campbell Jr. It became an instant classic. Sub-zero temperature, paranoia and claustrophobia, the three ingredients really mixed well for this cult classic.

As for the 2011 version, it tells us about the first discovery of the dreaded alien, trapped in the ice. Just like any other alien related sci-fi flicks, curiosity always kills the scientists. As a die-hard fan of this genre, I tried to look past the fact that the core storyline pretty much the same as the 1982’s version. To my surprise, this prequel seems to preserve its goriness and grotesque scenes of violence death and alien monsters. The only difference is it’s done with 3D animation, rather than prosthetics make-up and animatronics.

Nevertheless, I would like to suggest that you watch the 1982’s “The thing” first before you go on and see this one. Why? It’s simply because of its ending. SPOILER ALERT: I tried hard not to snap back at a couple who walked besides me after the movie. The girl asked her boyfriend “Kenapa diorang kejar anjing tu lepas tu tiba-tiba habis” (Why did they chase the dog then the movie ends?) which was replied by her boyfriend “Ending tergantung” (The ending is left unanswered) For those who had watched the john Carpenter’s version, you know what I’m talking about.

All in all, I rate this piece 3.5/5. Anyone who enjoys sci-fi slash horror flick, you should check this one out.

Things I miss #1

1. I miss watching movies on VCR player. That funny moment watching my favorite scene backwards when I pushed the rewind button.

2. I miss rewinding the cassette using a pencil or a pen.

3. I miss the adrenaline rush while I'm having fun at the video game arcade...illegally.

4. I miss the 90s cheesy TV commercials.

5. I miss my long hair.

6. I miss the fear of getting caught while smoking in the school toilet.

7. I miss singing the national anthem during school assemblies.

I want to do everything, but has done nothing.

Have you ever caught yourself in situations where your brain is overwhelmed with ideas but too lazy to jot them down? Or too busy visualizing the outcomes of these ideas that you’re actually procrastinating without realizing it? Hours after hours, days after days your mind keeps on lingering around the same ideas, thinking how great and brilliant they are if you would succeed on executing them but still, it’s all just in your mind.

At the same time, you developed yourself with new obsessions; new areas that you want to explore, try different genres in writing, pick up new hobbies and the urge to get involved in every fields of art available, as many as possible.

Despite the development of various enthusiasms, you sometimes got yourself trapped into the most dangerous situation any creative person could get into, a writers’ block, a situation where your mind becomes numb and devoid of almost everything. No matter how hard you try to squeeze that big brain of yours, struggling hard to get that avant-garde ideas you’re hoping for, it all seems pointless.

The age of apes has begun.

The much awaited prequel to the 2001’s Planet of the Apes sees the rise of the apes that slowly organize a massive riot against their former masters. The emotional flick is set in the present time in San Francisco, where a group of scientists claimed to have found a way to cure Alzheimer with an experimental drug. Unfortunately, the viral tests’ results came to an unexpected turn, it lead to the development of intelligence in apes, rendering them almost equal to their masters. The drugs themselves are killing humans slowly.

Ceaser, a young chimp born from a tested specimen, started to question his origins and the fate of his species. It took only just a few days for him to start organizing and launched a revolution that’ll change the history of both human and apes.

No doubt that this masterpiece has earned its place in my list of top sci-fi favorites. It’s not just the almost perfect CGI, but also the pace of the story and its narration that intrigued me the most. The suffering, depression and oppression of the human against the apes were depicted with almost no flaw at all. The audience is connected to Ceaser emotionally, and could almost felt his happiness, suffering and finally anger. His exploding rage at the end of his tolerance with the human world marked the beginning of a new age, the age of apes.

For all those sci-fi fans out there, especially the hardcore followers of “planet of the apes” universe don’t miss this one. I walked out of the cinema hall with mixed emotions, shock and unnerving feeling, and of course cringed for more. I was rooting for the apes during the whole movie, the second movie which I rooted against the human after “District 9”.

Opening Reception: Signs, Symbols and Icons

The “Signs, Symbols and Icons” exhibition was launched last Saturday (23^rd July 2011) to an adequate crowd, which was held at the Galeri Chandan, Bukit Damansara. I was one of the eager patrons who attended the opening reception. The exhibition highlights three young promising artists, Anisa Abdullah, Najib Ahmad Bamadhaj and Hirzaq Harris. Each individual successfully came up with their own rendition and insights regarding the concept of signs, symbols and icons, each with their own methods and techniques.

Marilyn Monroe was an icon during her glorious yesteryears, and that was what Anisa Abdullah is trying to imply into her works, famous and perhaps classic icons. Alongside the famous sex symbol, Anisa also focuses her insights on classic western cars that had been such crazed subjects for most automobiles enthusiastic all around the world. Not to forget, her interpretation on our local famous streets and their stories such as the “Jalan Lebuh Ampang”. The young artist experimented with collage to create forms using used materials, mainly magazines.

On the other hand, Najib Ahmad Bamadhaj’s “Polo” sends a bold yet very subtle message about the differences of classes in a society. As we know, Polo is a sport for the wealthy, and it has become a symbol representing the upper class. The artist tries to demolish this established believe by putting the image of the Polo player on an image of a wall. According to him, a wall is the favored medium for street art, like graffiti, and it represents the lower class. By combining these two, he claimed that he wants to reinforce the belief that everyone and classes should be equal and given the rights to certain privileges.

Most of Hirzaq Harris’ works has been influenced by the classic oriental style, as well as the classic Japanese style painting during the feudal era. There are Chinese symbols and characters written in some of his works, that according to him, those symbols tell the ancient stories and fables of the Chinese folklore. His main focus is the detail drawing of technical diagrams like from an interior of machines, and he applies them inside the images of classic icons and symbols that represent the ancient Japanese and Chinese cultures. These are the dragon, kabuki, samurai and a Buddha. He uses technical pens, acrylics and bitumen on canvas.

The exhibition ends on 29^th July 2011. Another exhibition is on its way this august which entitles “Kalimah” and obviously focuses on Islamic art, which is appropriate with the oncoming Ramadhan. “Kalimah” starts on 10^th of August and ends on 26^th August 2011.

Video on the opening reception will be uploaded soon.

Najib Ahmad Bamdhaj - Polo

Mixed media on canvas

Anisa abdullah - Marilyn Monroe

paper collage on canvas

Hirzaq Harris - Beyond Kabuki

Mixed Media on canvas

Vonnegut’s 8 Rules For Writing a Short Story

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

from the department of light & sound

Urbanscapes 2011

It’s been three days, and I’m still bragging about the good times I had at Urbanscapes. It was my perfect Saturday. The warm feeling of being surrounded by friendly fellow countrymen was priceless. It’s not like every day a stranger comes up to you and asked to pose for a photograph together. Armed with a borrowed D90 and a Holga, but unfortunately with only one roll of film, I wandered through the colorful delights for almost 6 hours.

Once I’m at the entrance, I was greeted with smiles and warm hospitalities from the ticket crew, early indication that I will mostly enjoy the rest of the day there. Further into the area, I was met with a row of stalls and booths ranging from art crafts, fashion, vintage clothing, badges, handbooks, soaps, eco knights and many more. I stopped at every booth, snapped a few pictures and asked for their business cards. There was one thing in particular that really caught my fullest attention, a full size body armor at the eco knight’s booth. I’m a big fan of the medieval history. Then I made my way to the field which was already packed with eager patrons, as eager as I was.

Just as I entered the area, my foot stepped on something soft and made a squishing sound. I looked down and to my disliking; the field was wet and muddy. It was raining earlier that morning. It’ll have to take more than wet grass and mud to stop me from enjoying myself, so I kept on going until I reached the Junkyard stage. There were two Indian dudes, up on the stage, hip-hop battling in Tamil. A little bit awkward for me because it’s my first time watching it in Tamil but nonetheless, it’s entertaining and the crowd loved it. I stayed a while for another performance by SSK, a local hip-hop act, performing their hit, “Aku benci”. Then I moved on to the next area. There was another stage, bigger than the Junkyard and a larger crowd too. It was TMnet’s stage and the band that was performing stopped me in my track. They sounded just like Explosion in The Sky, which is also one of my favorite bands. Written big in the screen above them, The Metaphor, that was the name of the band. I stayed for another good 20 minutes enjoying the energy and the beautiful tunes presented up on the stage.

The day was getting late and hot at the same time; I stopped at a drink stall and bought a refreshing “Sirap Bandung” for one Ringgit. As I was enjoying myself, sipping the cold milky beverage, my ears caught something. A very familiar voice speaking over the speakers nearby, I knew that voice from somewhere but couldn’t really figure it out. I walked towards the commotion, and to my delight, there he was, Patrick Yeoh, with the rest of the Actorlympics crew, Douglas Lim, Nell Ng, Rashid Salleh and Kuah Jenhan. Despite the wet and muddy ground, I sat down and start laughing, like everybody else. Did I mention that I never check out the schedule? It’s because I like surprises. Patrick Yeoh and his crew is one of the pleasant surprises that I got that day. We were entertained with various games that the actors had to improvise their skills with. My favorite was the “freeze” game where it starts with two actors and they have to act a scene given by the audience. During their act, another player can cut in by saying “freeze!” and the actors that are acting have to freeze. The new player comes in and taps on the back of any actors he or she wants to replace and they can act a new scene.

The game started with Rashid Salleh and Nell Ng, where they had to act a scene in the shower together. It was awkward for them as well for the audience. At first Rashid moaned and sighed as Nell was scrubbing his body, then suddenly she shouted “Aboy!!” and he replied “sorry mommy, too much internet”. The whole crowd with the rest of the Actorlympics laughed as hard as we could. The mood of the act changed drastically. A very good improvising. Sadly, the show didn’t last as long as I hoped for. As they were chilling out backstage, I saw an opportunity. With a silly grin I asked ‘uncle’ Patrick if I can take a photo with them, a perfect Saturday indeed.

As an analogue photography enthusiastic, I spent quite some time at both klickr and Million Happy Faces. Then I had lunch which was a packet of char kue tiao and cendol. I walked around for hours, snapped a few photos, filled my tummy with delicious desserts and interact with friendly people until my legs finally gave up and I made my way home around 8PM. Wish I could stay longer but I was too exhausted. I’m looking forward for next year’s Urbanscapes. It was the best 40 Ringgit I ever spent on.